BmoreArt’s Picks: April 29 – May 5
This Week: MICA MFA Grad Film Showcase at SNF Parkway, Inviting Light panel discussion at MICA’s Lazarus Center, the Banneker Douglass Tubman Museum celebrates International Jazz Day, Micah E. Wood and Christopher Chester at Enoch Pratt Central Branch, Ghost Rivers walking tour with Bruce Willen at the BMA, Baltimore Story Fest at the Theatre Project, Maryland Film Fest Day at the Parkway, Asia North 2025 kick off celebration and Exceeds Expectations exhibition, the Kinetic Sculpture Race at AVAM, Archive 192 exhibition tour and artist conversation at UMBC, and Jerrell Gibbs and Sharayna Christmas in conversation with Myrtis Bedolla at Galerie Myrtis — PLUS apply for the ACC’s American Craft Made Market and more featured opportunities!
BmoreArt’s Picks presents the best weekly art openings, events, and performances happening in Baltimore and surrounding areas. For a more comprehensive perspective, check the BmoreArt Calendar page, which includes ongoing exhibits and performances, and is updated on a daily basis.
To submit your calendar event, email us at events@bmoreart.com!
MICA Grad Show – MFA Filmmaking Showcase
Tuesday, April 29 :: 5-10pm
@ SNF Parkway Theatre
MICA Grad Show 2025 features the work of the College’s MFA and MA students across 14 internationally renowned graduate programs. From February through May, four distinct shows will highlight the students’ bold explorations of political unrest, social injustice, and community polarization. In collaboration with the Office of Graduate Studies, the programs will host exhibition receptions and key events celebrating the ability of these artists, designers, filmmakers, educators, and curators to harness art’s power to disrupt, awaken, and inspire for a more just and connected future. MICA’s MFA Filmmaking showcase will show off the thesis films of graduates from our Filmmaking, MFA program. Screenings are to begin at 7pm and run until 10pm there will be a red carpet event beginning at 5:30 pm. More info at MICA.edu/gradshow
Inviting Conversation: Light’s role in surveillance, safety, & celebration
Tuesday, April 29 :: 6:30-8pm
@ MICA Lazarus Center
Panelists:
- Morris Speller, Lecturer in the Johns Hopkins University Writing program, urban historian focusing on race and racism in urban planning and the built environment
- Merrell Hambleton, Director of Public Engagement for the BMA, previous community engagement lead for Inviting Light and Signal Station North
- Glenn Shrum, Founding Principal of Flux Studio and Associate Professor of Lighting Design and Interdisciplinary Practice at Parsons School of Design (@flux_studio_ltd)
- Marie Anderon, Baltimore City Planner for the Northern District
- Moderator: Maura Dwyer, Community Design Works Project Coordinator at the Neighborhood Design Center
Description of Panel:
Light has always played a pivotal role in shaping public safety and nighttime activity. In fact, the first public light infrastructure wasn’t a physical object but people—a foot patrol carrying lanterns that became the first form of institutionalized police in Baltimore called the “night watchmen.”
Over time, the notion of “more light” equaling “more safety” and “less crime” became deeply ingrained, but Baltimore’s lighting infrastructure tells a more complicated story—one where the presence and type of light across different communities reflect structural inequities found in other forms of public infrastructure like green spaces, sidewalks, and streets. Just as light can welcome us in, it can also keep us out—making us feel uninvited or unwelcome in spaces that are deemed unsafe or off-limits.
This conversation brings together a local city planner, urban historian, public art and engagement specialist, and lighting designer to explore the nuanced legacy of urban lighting. They will delve into its dual role as a marker of progress and a mechanism of control, drawing insights from Baltimore’s history as the first U.S. city to install gas streetlights.
Panelists will examine projects like Signal Station North and Inviting Light to envision a future where light is reclaimed as a tool for community-defined safety, joy, access, culture, and belonging. Together, they’ll explore how equitable investment in thoughtful, creative public lighting can transform perceptions of unsafe spaces and revive vacant corridors—not through a one-size-fits-all approach, but by designing light to resonate with the unique nighttime environment, identities, and aspirations of each community.
From visibility, spectacle, and spiritual awakening to mood, memory, and resistance, this discussion invites us to reconsider the meaning of “lighting” a street—and asks, who gets to invite the light in?
**This is a FREE event open to the public. Reserve your spot!
Accessibility: The MICA Fred Lazarus IV Center is wheelchair-accessible. Thank you to the MICA Fred Lazarus IV Center for their support in providing space for this event.
Night of Sacred Sounds: An Evening of Jazz + The Spoken Word
Wednesday, April 30 :: 6-8pm
@ Banneker Douglass Tubman Museum
In celebration of UNESCO’s International Jazz Day, the Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum invites you to Night of Sacred Sounds: An Evening of Jazz + The Spoken Word—a soulful celebration of rhythm, inspiration, and cultural heritage. Featuring electrifying performances by The Kweku Sumbry Quartet and Wesley “Panama” Watkins, Jr. and the Count the Cost Band, this special fundraiser supports the museum’s upcoming programming while honoring the enduring legacy of jazz and poetry, two art forms deeply rooted in the African Diaspora.
Set against the backdrop of the museum’s Sacred Spaces exhibition, this event will delve into the profound connections between spirituality, artistry, and the African diasporic experience, offering an evening of reflection, joy, and community connection.
Bonus: Between performances, join us for a community-led poetry jam session! Are you a poet or spoken word artist eager to share your talent with the BDTM community? Sign up now to participate—space is limited. Don’t miss this unforgettable night of music, poetry, and cultural celebration. See you at the museum!
Read more of this week’s picks at BmoreArt.
